# Snow Peas? A Winter Crop? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 14, 2006, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-peas-a-winter-crop/384110 "2006-12-14T11:13:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2006, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-peas-a-winter-crop/384110/1 "2006-12-14T11:13:34Z")
Are there any crops that grow in the winter? I’ve heard it said that some veggies can still grow in colder climates, like some beans. So, expanding this thought, do any crops grow in the winter, like snow peas perhaps? Or, is the name misleading? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2006, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-peas-a-winter-crop/384110/2 "2006-12-14T11:46:02Z")
Some leafy crops can put on growth during the winter - spinach, for example - even some varieties of lettuce. Some types of beans - broad(fava) beans - are often sown in the late autumn and left to grow slowly through the winter months - they don’t produce the actual beans until the days lengthen and the weather warms up, but they will produce earlier and heavier crops this way (and the plants are usually generally healthier and sturdier that way). ---
**Author:** ![Oswald\_Bastable](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oswald_bastable/32/214_2.png) [@Oswald\_Bastable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oswald_Bastable)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2006, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-peas-a-winter-crop/384110/3 "2006-12-14T12:51:09Z")
Nothing to add, but to point out the appropriateness in who chose to post the first answer to this… 🙂 OB ---
**Author:** ![butler1850](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@butler1850](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butler1850)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2006, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-peas-a-winter-crop/384110/4 "2006-12-14T16:50:05Z")
From my experience growing snow peas in New Hampshire, they tend to grow best when you sow them into the ground either just after the snow melts, or as it’s in it’s death throws. They are a very cold hardy crop, and will germinate at temperatures that other seeds would laugh at. They also tend to begin to wilt, and stop producing at much lower temperatures than many other crops. It’s always the first thing planted in my garden, often in late March, or VERY early April. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2006, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-peas-a-winter-crop/384110/5 "2006-12-14T18:43:34Z")
Depends on where you live - here in South Carolina, we can grow some crops year round. (I didn’t bother this year, but you can.) ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-peas-a-winter-crop/384110/6 "2006-12-15T08:29:03Z")
My mother insists that certain root crops (beets, carrots, potatoes, etc.) taste better (‘sweeter’) if they are left in the ground during the fall, up until the first frost, or even left in the ground all winter and dug up in the spring. But I don’t think they are actually ‘growing’ during these winter months. Especially up here in Minnesota! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-peas-a-winter-crop/384110/7 "2006-12-15T09:05:04Z")
[QUOTE=t-bonham@scc.net] My mother insists that certain root crops (beets, carrots, potatoes, etc.) taste better (‘sweeter’) if they are left in the ground during the fall, up until the first frost, or even left in the ground all winter and dug up in the spring. [/QUOTE] This is certainly true with parsnips - they’re a bit starchy and woody until the frost has hit them - then they turn tender and sweet. Leeks are also usually left in the ground until at least the first frost - it’s my impression that they can be a bit fibrous before this, but that one actually might just be my imagination. ---
**Author:** ![Oswald\_Bastable](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oswald_bastable/32/214_2.png) [@Oswald\_Bastable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oswald_Bastable)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-peas-a-winter-crop/384110/8 "2006-12-15T11:36:25Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] This is certainly true with parsnips - they’re a bit starchy and woody until the frost has hit them - then they turn tender and sweet. Leeks are also usually left in the ground until at least the first frost - it’s my impression that they can be a bit fibrous before this, but that one actually might just be my imagination. [/QUOTE] I do have something useful to add this time. This is also true of brussel sprouts - they’re much improved by being left until after the first frost, which I guess explains why they’re a traditional festive ‘treat’ ☹ OB ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-peas-a-winter-crop/384110/9 "2006-12-15T12:05:36Z")
There’s a reason why root veggies taste better when left till the frost: They’re actually biennials (plants with a two-year growth cycle). At the end of the first growing season, all of the nutrients (sugars, etc.) go down into the tuber to be stored for the following season’s growth. This process continues until the top of the plant dies back after the first frost. Human beings then swoop in and dig up the tubers halfway through the plant’s natural growth cycle. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-peas-a-winter-crop/384110/10 "2006-12-15T12:12:03Z")
I think it’s probably also true that they begin converting starches to sugars, ready to be transported to the new growth (and possibly also as a sort of anti-freeze). ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-peas-a-winter-crop/384110/11 "2006-12-15T14:39:43Z")
Collards also are supposed to be eaten after the first frost. (Mine are still, like, three inches tall. Which is good, because I hate the nasty things.) ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2007, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-peas-a-winter-crop/384110/12 "2007-01-06T11:51:01Z")
Interesting stuff! I have heard that some veggies make for good winter crops, but I thought this was an oxymoron.